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Soaring to New Heights of Disappointment
Emily Ceisel
May 30, 2008
Why Airlines are Crashing and Burning When it Comes to Meeting Customers’ Expectations
A woman sits depressed and alone except for a bag of Doritos and an overpriced bottle of Evian. Once again, she’s been let down. When will she learn? Does she expect too much? Not really, just a little common courtesy and respect. After all, she held up her end of the relationship - spent her hard-earned money, planned ahead and gave up hours of her time - only to be disappointed once again. No, it’s not a boyfriend that has let her down, it’s an airline. And yes, this was me two weeks ago trying to deal with United Airlines after my flight was cancelled.
Today, many customers feel like me; airlines, especially the major carriers like United, aren’t meeting customers’ expectations. According to the 2008 American Customer Satisfaction Index, airlines ranked worst in customer satisfaction of all consumer sectors studied. In fact, if it weren’t for Southwest Airlines’ 4% increase in consumer satisfaction, the industry’s ratings would have reached a record low this year. Top offenders on this list include US Airways and United Airlines1 , which I doubt comes as a surprise for anyone that has flown recently. United’s earnings reflect their poor ratings. In the first-quarter of 2008, United lost $537 million dollars2. In comparison low cost carriers, like Southwest, are doing quite well. In fact, by providing service to geographic regions where US Airways and United cut domestic flights, Southwest has actually expanded their business3. Another major reason for their success, with low cost carriers, customers don’t expect much beyond getting from point A to point B. Therefore, any additional service or personal touch they provide is perceived by customers as going above and beyond.
So what can financially crippled airlines do to win back customers? The key is to set realistic expectations and deliver on them. Take how airlines handle delays and cancellations. As a customer, I understand they are inevitable. What I don’t understand is how poorly they are handled. The confusion, lack of information provided and general discourtesy during these stressful times is unacceptable to customers. Airlines need to train frontline employees how to handle these situations and empower them with the information and tools they need to serve customers more effectively. Simply informing customers of the reason for the delay and apologizing would go a long way.
Also disheartening to customers are the various amenity cutbacks. Ten minutes before a recent-nine hour flight, I was shocked to learn that American would not be offering free in-flight meals. Passengers were told they would be able to purchase a meal only to then learn, while in the air, that there were not enough in stock for everyone. Needless to say there were some angry and hungry customers. Another blow to customers came last week when American, citing high fuel costs, suddenly announced passengers will be charged $15 to check their first piece of luggage and $25 for each additional piece.
Reward programs, one of the few remaining travel perks, are also being trimmed. As a frequent flyer, I have enough miles for three free tickets which I expect to be able to use whenever I chose to fly. However, every time I want to cash in a free ticket, I’m restricted by blackout dates. Turns out major carriers have decreased the number of seats available for purchase with earned miles. To top it off, I recently received notice that many of my miles will expire in August. How does this make sense? Customers are disgruntled and our expectations are lower than ever, but now airlines are going to take away one of the few reasons customers still loyally fly with a specific carrier?
With ticket prices on the rise, I don’t know about you, but unless airlines start at least meeting the expectations they set, I think I’ll stay on solid ground.
1 Johnsson, Julie. “Dissatisfaction in the Air” Chicago Tribune Web Edition 20 May 2008. 20 May 2008.
2 Sorkin, Andrew Ross and Micheline Maynard. “Continental Abandons Merger Talks with United” The New York Times 28 April 2008. 15 May 2008.
3 Bailey, Jeff. “Southwest Is Waiting in the Wings” The New York Times 6 May 2008. 15 May 2008.
Emily Ceisel is an Associate Consultant at Vox, Inc., a customer experience research and consulting firm. Contact her through the feedback form on our Contact Us page. Copyright 2008 Vox, Inc. All rights reserved.
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